I mentioned I went to Granbury, Texas this past weekend to teach a retreat the Lakeside Girls had themed Audience of One. To say the Lord messed me up over this one would be an understatement but in order to explain fully, I’ll need to back up a bit.

My church’s annual retreat was 2 weekends ago. I taught from James 1 which we all know is not for the faint of heart but I knew beyond all doubt that was supposed to be my text. Those of you who know me well understand I’m not one to blame the devil for every failure – I can fail just fine on my own thank you – but never in all my time of teaching have I ever felt so oppressed or dark or unable to communicate the thoughts that were on the paper right in front of me. I’ll never know on this side of heaven what war was being waged but in an inexcusable nutshell, I blew it.

My disappointment in myself was overwhelming. I have an undying affection for my church girls and we always have such a great time together. I never feel I can do enough to return what they do for me so this weekend is my token of love to them. I want to be sure their time is as fulfilling as it can be from the accommodations to the food to the Word. It’s important to me for my favorite people to feel they’ve really heard from God and had some fun in the process. I don’t know about them, but for me personally I normally leave exhausted but exhilirated. That make sense?  This time I just left exhausted and defeated because I felt I’d let them down.  All I wanted to do was go home and quit and buy a retreat in a box for next year. (Still considering that, actually.)

That said, before The Major Fail, I fully expected to float right out of that conference and into the next. And the next was huge to me, too. The group of women I was going to serve had entrusted their first ever women’s conference to me. As if that weren’t enough, the queen of my iPod and our church cd player, Nicol Sponberg (Selah!), was going to be leading worship. But no pressure, really.

On the way home, between sobs, I said to the Lord, “If there was ever a weekend I needed to go in on a high, it’s this one.”  You want to know what He said?  “Child, if there is ever a weekend when I needed you to go in on a low, it’s this one.”

You see, I was to teach on the Redemption and Ransom of God.  Pure love stuff, y’all, straight from Isaiah 43:1-4.  What I realized is that it has been some time since my heart has really been broken and that I’ve sensed His flat out, extravagant, scandalous love toward me.  I’ve come to know that God allowed whatever was going on the previous weekend to be a set up for what He wanted to work in me for the next.  I told the Texas girls that perhaps the Lord knew my home girls would forgive me for stinking it up whereas they would not. 

I can’t even begin to describe the past couple of weeks with my God.  He has been so tender and has met me on the pages of His Word every single day to the point of being ridiculous.  There are many things I could share but I have to tell you this one story.

Driving home from my church retreat, in the midst of all the snot-slinging, as clearly as I’ve ever felt the Lord speak to me He told me to fast Diet Dr. Pepper.  “Are you kidding me?” I asked.  He wasn’t.  “How long, Oh Lord?” I cried.  “I’ll let you know”, He said.   End of conversation.  So, I laid down that most wonderful tonic and straight away went into detox tremors.   

During that following week (the one prior to leaving for Texas), every time I jones’d for a Dr. P I would cry to Him to give me strength and fill me in a different way.  And He did.  Praise Him, He did.  I’ve never been aware of Him so much as I was during that time, so much so that I’d begun to think that maybe it’d be okay if He just took them away forever.

Here’s the cool part though.  I met up with my wonderful hostesses, Nell and Lou, at the airport.  I was staying in Nell’s home so while at lunch she asked what I liked to drink.  I said, “Diet Dr. Pepper” without explaining my fast.  She then explained to me that she had been to the grocery store without an idea in the world what I liked and when her eyes settled on the Diet Dr. Pepper a voice said, “She is a Diet Dr. Pepper girl”.  I just have one word for you: 

RELEASED!

He said He would let me know and that was my sign, girlfriends.  But let me tell you the craziest thing.  I have drank a few since then but in a way I can not explain, even though they are still delicious they are not nearly as satisfying.  Once you’ve tasted the Living Water it’s hard to go back to aspartame and formaldehyde.  Amen?

Here are a few pictures from Granbury:

A bunch of crazy people.  It’s always sad for me to leave a group knowing I may never see the women I bonded so quickly with again.  Will y’all come see me in Alabama so we can laugh some more?

Precious Kathy! Her husband is the Children’s Pastor at Lakeside. If we all had 1/10th of Kathy’s energy Red Bull would go out of business. Love you, girl!

Y’all, this woman. I really prayed I wouldn’t act like a goober when I met Nicol but she is so amazingly humble and unassuming you couldn’t get starstruck if you tried. She and hubby Greg were so fun and ministering alongside them is a gift I won’t ever forget. They shared about losing their sweet 10-week-old son, Luke, to SIDS and Christ’s strength through their brokenness was something to behold.

Doing her thing. Effortlessly and beautifully. And would y’all check out that stage? Lakeside Girls have decorating skillz.

Heidi, me, Nicol, and Gina. Heidi was the mastermind behind the graphic design. Amazing! Gina is the Sr. PW at Lakeside. I want to raid her closet. She’s over the top in all the good ways.  And will y’all please tell Nicol and me that our legs look long?  We were trying not to look stubby scrunched up on the steps. 

So, it took all that to say thank you Lakeside Girls.  You ministered to me more than I ever could have you.  The same thanks goes to my home girls.  You are my safe place and ones whom I know will overlook my flakiness and faults.

I had fully intended on having a couple of posts between last week’s discussion and this week’s for those of you who aren’t in the least bit interested in the subject.  Truth is I have been on a little computer fast in preparation for a conference I taught in Texas this weekend.  It was such a great time and I’ll tell you a bit more about that tomorrow, but today is Tuesday which means time for Week Two!

Your enthusiasm for this group has blown me away.  Mindy from Colorado, you are precious!  Freshly-called ministry wives, I wish I could hug each and every one of you!  Our little group is made up of girls from all over the US as well as Brazil, Canada, and Australia. (This is not a scientific observation so forgive me if I missed you!)  I am just so happy!  Can you tell?!  Do the exclamations give it away?!!!

I have absolutely loved reading through all your answers and learning that I’m not the only one who never dreamed she would end up a minister’s wife.  When I graduated from high school, I was determined to move to either New York or Chicago and live in one of those adorable brownstones.  I never wanted to get married and certainly didn’t want kids.  They got on my nerves.  Men and kids.  So to think the Lord plucked me as a brand from the fire (Zechariah 3), clothed me in righteousness, and then set me back down in a teeny town with a pastor husband and a house full of kids is hysterical to me.  Don’t dare ever tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor! (And wow, WHO KNEW so many of you were called of God to marry ministers as young women and then aligned your dating/marriage decisions to that call?  I’m SO praying that one over my little girl. )  I also cracked up at Patty’s tree-through-the-roof that caused her family to surrender to ministry.  Isn’t it just like God to pound us until we listen? 

I also appreciated your honesty when sharing which area of Sarah’s example resonated with you the most.  Trust is my big one too, y’all, but I can’t tell you one single time when God led us to a place where we found Him either absent or unfaithful.  The one who fills all space and time is there waiting for us to step into the place He has already prepared for us to occupy. 

You girls have no idea how I wish we could be sitting in a room together hashing this out face-to-face.  Unfortunately, that can’t happen today so let’s get on with the next questions from Chapter Two:  I Can Still Wear Cute Shoes!  This chapter head became the title for the book after much discussion between myself and the publisher.  I think for all of us, this imagery summed up the message of the book – I am safe being the me God created. 

Question One:  I shared in Chapter Two how I had a complete identity crisis when Luke was called to ministry and that it played out in my closet.  How did clothing play a part in your role as a minister’s wife?  Were you tempted to change your style?  Why or why not? 

Question Two:  Pages 51-57 speak about several character qualities that all Christian women should exhibit but perhaps more so the woman in servant leadership.  Which of these areas are more difficult for you to master?  (Winsome, Sober, Faithful, or the temptation to sometimes be Diabolical) 

Question Three:  Name one one specific area in which you feel intense pressure to be or do something contrary to your personal giftedness.   Please try to be concise with this question because I know it’s a biggy!

Can’t wait to meet back with you next week!  Remember to begin your answers with name, age, area of ministry, and state for identification.

To the dear lay people who have opted to join us in this discussion:  You have no idea how thrilled I am that you are here!  In my years in the church one thing of which I’m convinced is that we can not operate independently of one another and expect our relationships to thrive.  I hope this outlet will be a forum of sorts where we can gain some mutual understanding on our perceptions of life inside the stain-glassed windows. 

One last note before we get started.  If you didn’t sign the roll call that by no means keeps you from this Discussion!  Join along anytime you can.  Our discussion for Week One will take place in the comments of this post.  You will have until next Tuesday to log your responses here before next week’s assignment.  Capiche?  Also, for ease of identifying one another, be sure to begin each comment with your name, area of ministry/layperson, age, and state.  I hope that will be an aid in our recognizing each other more fully each week.   Also, if you don’t yet have your copy, there is a link in my sidebar with online/store front locations where it is available.

Let’s get to it!

Today we are going to cover Chapter One – His Calling Is My Calling, Too.  In it I shared a great deal of Luke’s and my backstory in how God rescued our marriage and then planted our feet in ministry.  Girlfriends, I could have written a whole book on that alone so know that I exercised great restraint to fit it in a couple pages.  I love to hear the stories of surrender from you. 

QUESTION ONE: 

Ministry Wives:  Give a brief background on how the Lord called you to ministry.  Did you always know you would be a minister’s wife?  Were you happy about it?  Not? 

Lay People:  Have you personally witnessed the working of the Lord on a couple’s life and their subsequent call to service?  What were some of the things you recognized in the couple that caused you to believe they would be called out?

The next portion of this scripture uses the relationship of Abraham and Sarah as the backdrop of how our own callings should be characterized.

QUESTION TWO: 

Ministry Wives:   Which of characterizations most resonated with you?  (Called to trust, participate, or hope?) 

Lay Wives:  How did these areas apply to your own marriage relationships?

I’m going to leave it at these questions today since the answer to #1 could be lengthier.  Feel free to call out anything else in this first chapter that really stuck with you.

Again, thank you for playing along.  I absolutely can not wait to take this road trip with you!

I’m Lisa.

Nice to meet you.

So much life has happened I don’ t know where to begin so I’ll go back to perhaps one of the most fun days EVER which was a book signing I did at LifeWay a couple weekends ago.  I was so conflicted about whether or not to do this because it felt so lame.  As it turned out, I’m happy I did because I was able to meet so many ministry wives while partying with every friend and relative I’ve ever had in my whole life.  Overwhelmed doesn’t cover it.  The books sold out.  I was invited back again (March 20th!  Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel!).  At the risk of sounding sappy, I’ve never felt more loved or supported.  If I never get to do this again I am sufficiently full.  Thank you SO much to those of you who took the time to stop by.  It was one of those days that I’ll be telling my own grand kids about if the Lord tarries that long. 

Please notice the jacket I’m wearing as if you haven’t already. I ordered it online thinking it looked really cute on the model. It’s a little more RAHRRRRR than something I would normally wear but whatever. It’s done now and I can’t take it back. Luke told me it was just a shame so many cheetahs had to die to make it.   He’s a smart alec preacher man.

Here are a few pictures that my bff Deedra , snapped:

The Girl wanted to sit with me so she could autograph books for anyone who wanted her signature, too.   Y’all were so gracious to allow her to make her mark.  I can’t even talk about how much this picture means to me.

The guys in my life.  The four on the left are Luke and sons.  The ones on the right are my other sons aka  The Ones to whom I unshamedly give life advice whether they are certain they want it or not.  They are also my LOST buddies.  You may notice a Dharma shirt?

The most awesome cake ever made by another bff, Karri. Y’all, she just started making cakes like 2 days before she came up with this creation. She’s one of those girls who just makes you throw in the towel over your own lack of skill and pay her to do your cute stuff. Except she never lets you pay her. Well, most of the time. If y’all need a party cake, she’ll probably want a few bucks but not nearly as many as she will deserve.

 
The Steadfast Class from our church. I thought I would burst into tears when I saw this group come in the door. I had no idea they were planning to make the trip up so to know they thought that much of our family – as if I didn’t already know it – was too much.

Speaking of those who made a long trip, it’s Nikki! And Stephanie! And Adrienne! I was so happy my invisible internet friends materialized for the sake of my family who wonder if all these people I talk about really exist. I love you girls SO much for coming!
 

This picture is a treasure. Mr. S. is a darlin’ man in our church who is not afraid to tell you he loves you or afraid to cry when he does it. And yes, I cry back.

There are a million more pictures but this is all I’ve got for now.

Okay, consider this post a tease because I’ve got to jump off here right now or I’m threatened to be sucked in for hours.  Y’all know how that works.   For those of you playing along, remember the online discussion for the book begins tomorrow!

p.s.  Kaye Penney, this was for you so you’d have some reading this morning! :)

Last Wednesday, the Awana director at church issued a challenge to all the classes to see who could raise the most money to aid Haiti.   I’ve never been one to shield my kids from the terrible things going on in the world.  I think they need to be exposed to suffering so they can both: a) freshly appreciate how very blessed they are and b) be moved to act on behalf of those who the Lord calls ‘the least of these’.  I’ve made a point of showing the news stories and explaining how dire the needs were of the children left with no adults to care for their needs.  The Girl decided in her precious little heart that she was going to do something to help those children, hence, the Candy for Haiti movement has been born.

The Girl asked me if I would let her sell candy at school to raise money.  I was a little hesitant because I wasn’t altogether sure if that would even be allowed.  She assured me her teacher let other kids sell things in class so I caved just to get her to stop begging.  She started her project last week  just turned in $18.50 raised one quarter at a time.

Would you look at that face?  Could you say no even if you wanted to?

What came to my mind immediately was how we’d just finished talking about recognizing qualities in your children that the Lord could use for the Kingdom.  The timing of Girl’s sudden obsession with helping the Haitian children wasn’t lost on me.  It hasn’t mattered to her one bit that she can’t fix the whole problem.  She just seems to understand that everyone can do  something and believe me, she isn’t resting until she does. 

Yep, sounds like a Girl the Lord can use mightily to me.

Even if she does look like a fairy.

What?  You can’t hear anything?

That’s because the kids are back in school and my house is totally, in all caps, SILENT.

And yes, I just felt like shouting about it.

It’s not that I don’t love those boogers – goodness knows we’ve had our snow fun (Snow Girl is still standing proud by the way) but after five straight days of pandemonium, chaos, and eating, eating, eating every few minutes, it was just time we all broke free.

Since I’m in a much clearer state of mind, I can now think about numbers.  But speaking of numbers, can I just ask one thing?  WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THE NAMES AND NUMBERS ON THE CAVE WALL?  AND WAS THE BLONDE BOY AARON?  If you have no clue what I just said, you must not be a Lostie to which I say, I’m so sorry.  You really can’t comprehend what you are missing.

Okay, numbers.  The winning numbers for the AWI Conference are:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

8	3	7	6	20

Timestamp: 2010-02-17 14:49:34 UTC

8 -  Cheryl @  The 2911 Promise

3 -  Rachelle @ With One Step

7 – Jan @ Georgia Jan

6 – Dana (gmail address)

20 – Wanda @ Queenie’s Little Kingdom

Congratulations, girls!  I’ll forward your info along to the Amie’s and they will be in touch with your registration information.   For the rest of you, there is still plenty of time to register at the conference website.  I hope you will join us!

The ionosphere must be out of whack to see this in my front yard:

1.  The beginnings of Snow Girl aka the first snow creation my kids have built since 2000 which consequently makes it the first they remember.  She has a much larger base but Luke couldn’t lift her middle section.  I’m so glad Papaw didn’t decide he had something to prove and throw his back out trying it anyway.  How do you explain that to your friends?

2.  Boy Three on Snow Girl’s original backside.  She’s definitely got some junk on her trunk.

3. No day in the snow is complete without a snowball fight. This isn’t going to end up well.

4.  Boy Three nailed Two in the face. I don’t like where this is headed.

5.  His hair is even invested in this warfare. Warfare hair. I need me some of that.

6.  Three knows he is in trouble so he runs to hide behind me.   I locked the door and continued taking photos like any good mom would.

7.  The finished Snow Girl complete with the obligatory hat and broom. At least we gave her a smaller tail.

We just got a phone call saying that is school is out again tomorrow. 

Somebody point that HAARP at my head.

I’m really hoping that both lay people and ministry wives will participate in our discussions because my heart during this entire project was to facilitate  relationship-building based on some mutual understanding that is sometimes lacking in our churches.  Can we all agree there are times when making the effort to walk in one another’s shoes (their cute shoes no less!) would diffuse the hot messes we can brew?

I’ve really debated some different platforms in which to hold our discussions.  I considered a Blog Talk Radio format just because I think that sounds like so much fun but I know schedules are crazy and how would we all be able to participate?  I also love the video chat but there is the same issue with timing as well as the limitation in the number of people that can log in at one time.  For those reasons, here’s how we are going to do this thing:

1.  This post is roll call. Please register by leaving your name, state of residence, and area of ministry (if applicable) as well as time you’ve served. (Sounds like jail, doesn’t it?)    If you are a layperson, please note that as well.

2. Tuesday, March 2 will be the first discussionand will cover Chapters One and Two.  Some weeks will only cover one chapter depending on the likelihood of much more discussion. (Conflict, etc.)  I will post discussion questions and then give you a few days to respond.  On a designated day, I’ll respond to  your responses.  To which you can respond.  And then we’ll just do it all over again.  Capiche?

3.  If you don’t already have a copy of the book, here is a list of online and storefront retailers.  In short, you can find it anywhere books are sold.

Remember, we aren’t beginning until Tuesday, March 2.  That gives you roughly two weeks to get a book and get the reading done.  We can do this!

Okay, ready to hear from you…this will be so fun!

Many of you have heard about the fabulous ministry of The Amy’s over at A Woman Inspired. Together they produce several online conferences per year covering every topic imaginable.

I’m honored the girls have asked me to speak again this year at  Get Revived. The conference is March 15-19th and the cool thing is you attend through your computer by webinar! No hotels or plane tickets. No laying out your kids’ school clothes before you leave so your husband doesn’t dress them like a doofus. All you have to do is cozy up in front of your computer with a drink in one hand, a pen in the other, and get ready to take some great notes from an amazing line up of some of your favorite teachers and speakers. (I’m being very presumptive in including myself in that description.) The registration is only $12.95 for 5 days of sessions. And don’t worry, if you have to miss one you will be able to listen later because all of the mp3’s will be available as part of your fee.

Visit A Woman Inspired: Get Revived to learn more about the conference and how it works. My session will be on March 16th at 10 a.m. EST. I hope you can listen live because one of my favorite features of this format (say that five times fast) is your ability to chat and interact with all the other attendees while I’m talking. For real. How many conferences do you attend where you don’t feel guilty for texting through them? I love glancing at the instant message window to make sure I’m resonating with you since I can’t see your lovely faces glaze over if what I’m saying doesn’t make sense. In this case, a silent chat window is my cue that it’s time to clarify or move on.

Speaking of moving on, let’s get to the giveaway!  I have 5 TICKETS to offer for this conference!  Simply leave a comment on this post before midnight Monday, February 15th and if you would like – add to the comment by telling me one thing/area of life/issue on which you would really love to hear  biblical teaching. (Not a requirement for an entry.)  That should be a clue that I’ve not nailed down my topic (I’m waffling between three) but hopefully you girls can be the Holy Spirit in confirming it for me! I’ll randomly choose the winners and announce on Tuesday.  Remember, if you don’t have a blog please provide an email address so I can contact you with registration info if you are chosen.

Just wanted to pop in for just a second to say hi. Luke is busy watching American Pickers and dreaming of the day I’ll give my blessing for him to open his own junk shop. I’m thinking he could do plenty of pickin’ in our storage building but for some reason cleaning out our own free garbage doesn’t scream adventure like buying someone else’s.

This week has been one of those with more to do than hours accomplish it all. Tuesday night I got the beginnings of what I thought was a stress headache only to have it turn in to a full blown migraine the entirety of Wednesday. It felt like a band of angry elves was trapped in my head and determined to make their exit through my eye sockets whether my pesky eyeballs were in the way or not. I’m still a little hung over and tender from it but thankfully I’ve felt better today. As much as I grieved the loss of the time I didn’t think I had, the Lord was good to suggest that perhaps He was enforcing some stillness as a spiritual re-boot of sorts.

Today I put some final touches on a message I’m teaching tomorrow for a church in my community. The Lord compelled me to deliver a somewhat cheesy Valentine to them. That’s all I’ll say for now so as not to totally blow it. I told Luke as I’ll tell you, sometimes I get the urge to say or do something so completely weird that I’ll second guess myself out of following through. However, I’ve learned that often times those nudgings are really tiny ways the Lord wants to manifest Himself to some special one. So, corny or not, I’m going to just do what I feel He told me and rest in the fact He won’t be mad if I tried to obey a command that may very well end up being static in the radio.

And speaking of cheesy Valentines, we took the kids to see Tooth Fairy tonight to mark the day a bit early since Sunday’s are too crazy. I highly recommend this movie. It was so incredibly clean (not one dirty word that I know of?) and surprisingly funny and The Rock is in it. Do I need to say more? I particularly loved it because the boy who plays Ashley Judd’s son looks just like my Boy Two. I mean it was uncanny to watch even down to the mannerisms. Maybe I need to send my kid to L.A. Or on second thought, not.

Okay, so I’ve committed to an early bed time for the rest of the week so I’m checking out. Look for an announcement Monday or Tuesday about our Online Discussion Group on Cute Shoes. Of course it will be open to ministry wives but I’m really hoping laypeople will participate also. Relationships, people! We are building relationships!

One last note: A dear friend of mine, Necoe, has just started a new blog called According to Us. Necoe and her hubby Alan lived in the other half of our duplex in college and to say we had some great times is a colossal understatement. Necoe is just way cooler of a woman and mom than I ever dared hope to be. Alan is a college professor now and writes those kinds of papers that require google and a dictionary and a concordance to decipher. Heck, I need that just to figure out his Facebook statuses. Anyhoo, I’d love it if you’d give Necoe a visit to welcome her to our blog world. (Y’all are awesome.)

Have a fabulous weekend!